BMW’s electrified plans have already been set in motion, with the i3 all-electric city car slated for arrival in 2013, and the i8 hybrid sports coupe due in 2014. But our friends at Automobile suggest the future of the i program is questionable.

By now, BMW expected the world to have taken a few crucial first steps toward electrification, but things aren’t progressing as quickly as the automaker had hoped, the report suggests. Only a handful of cities have sufficiently developed their charging infrastructure to support an EV-driving population, and green car incentives have been cut in many western countries. And seeing as BMW expects to sell 100,000 i3 units per year at 335i sedan prices (in the ballpark of $45,000), that’s not good news.

Even so, BMW is still behind its electrified i program, with hopes that its early adoption of EVs will eventually pay dividends. Though the engineering and tooling for the program is reportedly on schedule, Automobile says team leader Ulrich Kranz and R&D chief Herbert Diess are currently working on a contingency plan. An electric exit strategy may exist, but BMW won’t assign a dollar value to it. Pulling the plug on the i3 and i8 would cost billions but wouldn’t lead to the kind of disaster BMW faced when it dumped the unprofitable Rover brand in the late ‘90s, chairman Norbert Reithofer said to Automobile.In response to the world’s slow progress, BMW has shelved its proposed i1 intra-city car and i5 van. The brand might also delay the launch of the i3 and i8 so it can focus on more viable options like plug-in hybrid or combustion-engine only models. However, BMW doesn’t want to lose the green image it’s building with the i program. If the new models fail to successfully launch, it may spell bad news for sports car fans too, as the long overdue M1 supercar will likely have to wait until the i8 coupe can find its footing in the market.Source: Automobile